explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3238: Soniferous Aether

2026-04-29T10:51:14Z

Kelvin128:

Dunno how, but I managed to get to an XKCD comic within the first like 5 minutes of it's upload. Went ahead and added a really bare bones explanation. People funnier and smarter than me can take it from there. [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 04:24, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

managed to get to the xkcd comic before this page was even made somehow so yeah. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:49, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

ah, i have a script which polls for the new comic pages on comic days and sends a webhook to alert me as well as sending a request to another program of mine to index the new page, so i fairly often find that the wiki page has been made by the bot but is completely empty when i get to it--or on rare occasions the webhook triggers before the xkcd.com/<number> url can embed, apparently; i guess the comic metadata JSON gets filled in before the image is, or something like that? (the webhook triggers sending a message to discord with the link, which embeds 99% of the time) - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 05:03, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:You can also just subscribe to the xkcd.com RSS feed, which is what I do. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:36, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
::Reinventing RSS feeds from first-principles. [[Special:Contributions/94.108.4.77|94.108.4.77]] 15:00, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"...however the Tu-144 and Concord'''é'''..." - why the rogue accent? Was the author's reasoning that, as a French word, it is ''de rigueur'' (see what I did there) for it to include accents? As errors go, it's acute one... [[Special:Contributions/50.45.232.78|50.45.232.78]] 05:21, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: The rogue accent has been removed with the speed of sound. But what about that supersonic DC-8. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:26, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: I could imagine a far more gȑàvè error... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:47, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"Nowadays this property is explained by wave–particle duality, which says that light can act as both a particle and a wave. " Remove. The constancy of the speed of light has nothing to do with quantum mechanics. The observation that the speed of light is independent of the observer's motion was actually the basis on which the theory of relativity was built. Meaning that it's not "explained" by anything at all, it's just the universe we live in. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:1810:84A6:3000:F877:7D1:CD53:FE41|2A02:1810:84A6:3000:F877:7D1:CD53:FE41]] 10:45, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: I think that's somewhat my fault - I expanded the sentence in the middle of that paragraph to try to make the link to the comic content clearer, but in doing so made the last sentence more confusing. I think it was referring to light travelling through a vacuum (see first sentence), rather than to the speed of light. Have attempted to fix. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 11:08, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:: OK - someone else has now changed the rest of the sentence so that it doesn't make any sense again. Going to just take it out, as that seems easier, and it's tangential to the explanation anyway. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:23, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

should someone make a category for reinventing things from first principles? I've seen that theme a lot, so it would make sense, right? --[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]] ([[User talk:GSLikesCats307|talk]]) 13:16, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

The funniest bit is that physics problems often ignore air resistance, so physicists may have forgotten that it exists and therefore need to 'discover' it from other phenomenon such as sound propogation... [[Special:Contributions/73.229.34.32|73.229.34.32]] 13:04, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Wouldn't riding along side a sound wave mean moving at the speed of sound? Which is where the pressure is highest from overlapping sound waves (aka. the sound barrier), where moving just a slight bit faster would outrun the sound waves and relieve most of that pressure, although it would do nothing to stop the increased air resistance at higher speeds. {{unsigned ip|69.174.184.72|14:48, 28 April 2026 (UTC)}}

What do you think? Would it be possible to surf on top of sound waves? How about a new comic book character, Sound Wave Surfer? Not to be confused with Silver Surfer. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: There's a relatively obscure Marvel character, associated with the X-Men (briefly a member), named Banshee that can do something like that. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 18:51, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Soniferous aether is the first of five elemetary principles in Hindu mysticism. Will there be follow up panels dedicated to the other four principles- tangiferous, luminiferous, gustiferous and odoriferous? [[User:Borqhue del Sol|Borqhue del Sol]] ([[User talk:Borqhue del Sol|talk]]) 13:20, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: There's also the medium of speech transmission - vociferous aether. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:51, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:: And the medium through which things are constantly trying to travel but never ''quite'' managing to arrive - sisyphous aether. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:54, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
::: The medium through which asolutely no iron can pass: nonferrous aether... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:48, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
:::: Somniferous aether, also known as chloroform

Talk:3229: Grammar

2026-04-08T16:38:33Z

Kelvin128:

E3EeE E3eE!! [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 22:26, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
: E [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:54, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

I created a transcript, but used OCR for all the E's because I kept losing count of how many there were. If someone wants to factcheck that, please do. [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.220|104.28.215.220]] 22:45, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
: Factchecked 19 E's counted in the image and 19 E's counted in the transcript. [[Special:Contributions/12.155.149.34|12.155.149.34]] 23:00, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

It looks like the bot picked up the April Fool's "feature" as interactive, should we keep it or remove? [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.220|104.28.215.220]] 22:46, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Side note: I have heard people using both alternate niche methods of language structure, kinda like those people who adopt a losing format even after it's clear it has lost. On character who has on occasion dabbled in both is Homer Simpson, BTW. --[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.13|94.73.49.13]]
:I still say that Video2000 was the superior home VCR format, in every way...[[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:55, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
: Not really niche - a significant proportion of spoken language is non-grammatical. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 16:27, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:: your non-grammatical [[Special:Contributions/45.178.3.34|45.178.3.34]] 14:34, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Any "competitors" to grammar would still be grammars since a grammar, by definition, describes how a language is structured. [[Special:Contributions/75.248.235.98|75.248.235.98]] 00:00, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:Well, the Random Words one ''seems'' to have no particular structure beyond being word-utterances, and the EEEEEEEEEEEEEE one doesn't even have much that ''can'' be structuralised (though I'm half expecting it to actually supposed to be a modem 'yowl', it needn't even be that), so I'm willing to bet that this exempts them from any consistent quality of being grammar. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:08, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
: The second example used the term word-s which in itself is a structure with grammar. And the last example might well have grammar, if eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee is a single morpheme, we siply wouldn't be able to recognize the grammar. [[Special:Contributions/195.65.24.115|195.65.24.115]]

I interpreted "words order words random words words random good" differently. I assumed it was missing commas and should be read as "words-order", "words-random" "words-words" "random-good". Maybe(probably?) not what Randall intended, but if anyone interpreted it the same as me, you're not alone! {{unsigned ip|69.204.108.174|00:23, 7 April 2026 (UTC)}}

i reconsider this: non-verbal communication isn't another rival for communication, as it is a subset (after seeing and liking [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3229:_Grammar&diff=next&oldid=409748 this anon's edit]), but i'm not sure what other methods there could be than just communication and non-communication; Lenhart says "rivals" plural -- <span style="letter-spacing:0.1rem">[[User:Somefan|somefan]] ([[User talk:Somefan|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Somefan|contribs]])</span> 00:45, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:Pretty sure the joke is that any alternative to communication would by definition be impossible to communicate. --[[User:Biotronic|Biotronic]] ([[User talk:Biotronic|talk]]) 08:18, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
::Actually, I worded that wrong - what I meant is that '' is an example of non-communication, which is not very effective at transmitting information --[[User:Biotronic|Biotronic]] ([[User talk:Biotronic|talk]]) 08:58, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 00:54, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:steal orange me steal eat orange me eat orange steal me eat orange steal me you [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 02:34, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

orange orange orange
orange orange orange
orange orange orange
yellow
orange you glad I didn't say orange? [[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 11:27, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

I would suggest that light/photons are the most popular way of transmitting information? to (most) humans anyway... {{unsigned ip|2a02:a468:b8cb:0:5a82:a830:1528:55af|13:15, 7 April 2026 (UTC)}}
: Only up until the last mile. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:15, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Why waste time use good grammar when bad grammar do trick? [[Special:Contributions/70.40.121.82|70.40.121.82]] 15:08, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:Cuz if you're doing too bad grammar, sometimes you'll see some sentences that triggers Uncanny Valley effect (or related stuff). (I would guess this way) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 15:25, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

::It's a reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bctjSvn-OC8 this scene] from the American version of The Office. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:08, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

In Cookie Clicker, there’s a news ticker message that says “Neeeeews : "neeeew EEEEEE keeeeey working fineeeeeeeee", reeeports gleeeeeeeeful journalist.” Might be a reference to that. [[Special:Contributions/185.124.31.68|185.124.31.68]] 15:41, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Erm, isn't the current description kind of missing the point? "Grammar is one of the most popular ways to structure a language" is a tautology. "Grammar" studies how languages are structured, so ANY organization scheme of a language (from random to highly structured) would be classified as that language's grammar. Trying to say there are "other ways to structure a language" would just be a different form of grammar. Same thing with the title text. "Communication" is transmitting information from one individual to another. Any alternative to "Communication" isn't transmitting information. [[Special:Contributions/57.140.32.31|57.140.32.31]] 16:32, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

The "words order random words" part may be a reference to {{w|Nim Chimpsky}}'s sign language "sentences" like "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you". [[Special:Contributions/193.179.120.253|193.179.120.253]] 18:22, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

I figured the EEE....EEE was referring to the screeching of a modem trying to establish communication. --[[User:Jimmosk|Jimmosk]] ([[User talk:Jimmosk|talk]]) 22:07, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Farm Macdonald farm old farm farm had farm a, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 02:53, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Somebody should make a version of scream cypher where it's E instead of A. [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 04:43, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Oh btw, in Chinese translation of What If? 2, the amount of E's featured in the question were 1083. I counted lol [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 04:46, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

This reminds me of a linguistics forum post a professor showed my class once. "I respect Chomsky, but Universal Grammar isn't all it's cracked up to be," it read. "The best way to learn a language is through immersion!" [[User:Flipping Mackerel|Flipping Mackerel]] ([[User talk:Flipping Mackerel|talk]]) 11:46, 8 April 2026 (UTC)
: The best way to learn a language is a correspondence course. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:09, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

I believe this is a reference to frequent weird results that Google AI mode sometimes returns after a search. I got this exact behavior twice. --[[Special:Contributions/82.132.222.151|82.132.222.151]] 12:42, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Language is not about communicating "facts" or propositions. It is a behaviour which benefits an individual by influencing the behaviour of a second individual to the benefit of the first.
[[User:Kelvin128|Kelvin128]] ([[User talk:Kelvin128|talk]]) 16:38, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:2827: Brassica

2023-09-15T14:30:46Z

Kelvin128: irony

You can also get pretty good mileage from claiming random things (like peaches, corn, or Skittles) are actually a type of berry. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.40|172.69.247.40]] 00:51, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
:I've done that with corn before. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.76|172.69.134.76]] 01:32, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
:Easier (and often ''more'' accurate than expectations) to suggest that any number of 'berries' are not a berry (but, typically, a {{w|drupe}} or {{w|Aggregate fruit|aggregate druplets/composite/etc}}), or similar with various (most?) type of 'nuts' that really aren't.
:But of course loganberries and most types of pine nut ''are'', indeed, brassicas!{{Actual citation needed}} [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.20|172.71.242.20]] 05:08, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
: You can get even more milage by claiming that _technically_ random berry isn't a berry[[Special:Contributions/172.71.246.135|172.71.246.135]] 20:41, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
: The confusion there comes from two different definitions of the word. The culinary term simply means a small edible fruit. The botanical definition is based on how different parts of the flower develop into parts of the fruit, and much of what matches each term doesn't match the other. The botanical term excludes a lot that even has "berry" in its name, like strawberries and blackberries, but includes some things that definitely don't match the culinary term, like bananas. Most people who aren't scientists who work with plants normally think of the culinary term, so basing statements on what matches the botanical term often sounds strange. The same is true for fruits vs vegetables, as vegatable doesn't even have a non-culinary definition, unlike fruit, which has a clear botanical meaning, which includes some things considered vegetables.--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.46|172.71.254.46]] 06:10, 13 September 2023 (UTC)
This is like the ridiculous claims that birds descended from dinosaurs and whales from hippos. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:20, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
:What do you mean "ridiculous"? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-dinosaurs-shrank-and-became-birds/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.229|172.70.100.229]] 19:06, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
:The poster was using the word "ridiculous" in the usual sense, but they omitted the "ironic" tag. [[User:Kelvin128|Kelvin128]] ([[User talk:Kelvin128|talk]]) 14:30, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Do we have a category/tag for "Experts misleading the public" or "Experts manufacturing false facts"? Feels like a common theme. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.121|172.71.22.121]] 10:37, 13 September 2023 (UTC)

''to which many vegetables that we eat belong'' speak for yourself. I'm pretty sure neither tomato nor potato is Brassica oleracea. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:44, 13 September 2023 (UTC)
:But what about the tomahto and potahto? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.143|172.70.90.143]] 05:23, 14 September 2023 (UTC)